Does anyone else have this issue?

[Clan]

Originally Posted by GMcL

Comparing apples and oranges.

Remember the 2011 onwards S60 was marketed as the naughty Volvo. It handled like no Volvo before. I suspect there was some input from Ford chassis.

People may not like Ford for various reasons but one thing they do very well is tune a chassis.

volvo tune their own springs and dampers , set up on UK roads .. .. volvo did the Mondeo floor pan for ford ... you only have to look at it to see the familiar volvo traits of the design , ford subframes and suspension components are used on it , but not galvanised this time just black painted steel which starts rusting after two years , the volvo subframes were shaped from curves stamped out in two pieces welded together and looked quite nice in silver galvanising when new , the rear subframe was a complex alloy casting , the ford ones are standard steel stock bits and pieces welded together ... As i always have said , ford bought volvo raped it's technology then dumped it ... using volvo bits and pieces on their other siblings such as Aston Martin rather than design something new .... You have to admire Ford though They are masters at cost cutting and always have been since the 60's . it was interesting from 2005 seeing their cost cutting on volvos , they took away one of the two bonnet gas struts . The new V70 was launched in 2008 with a hydraulic power tailgate properly designed with a hydraulic ram on each hinge neatly hidden in the roof , it was 6 months before ford made them take off one hydraulic ram and replace it with a spring ! The next year they scrapped the whole system and fitted nasty mondeo struts with built in electric motors , they were nothing but trouble , Noisy , they would stop working and they would snap off leaving the tailgate partially open , and at £700 a pair were expensive warranty repairs ... They used different smaller cheaper door mirrors with inferior motor packs , re worked the CEM to handle the increasing electrics in the cars and cut costs on the cable entry gland under the wiper motor plastic panel resulting in water leaking into the CEM . Did away with volvos expensive composite tailgate which Lotus helped to develop , that was a work of beauty if you ever got to see it with the panel off .. replaced with a black plastic moulding ....
The heaters in the V50 had metal pipes from the heater radiator into the engine bay direct to their destination all in one piece, they were fitted before the engine and interior went in , so if you had to change anything inside the heater or the heater radiator you had to saw the pipes off and replace a perfectly good heater radiator , it saves having a coupling on the bulkhead ...and increases the cost of a replacement heater radiator as it has to have a pipe kit .

Anyway that was the past , now we have all new things , beautifully designed alloy suspension front and rear , the underside now looks as good as the top of the car :-) I'm sure they kept a few Ford people though there are small signs here and there :-)

[GMcL]

If Volvo did the floor pan why does it have FoMoCo stamps all over it ?
Why did Volvo then opt to move the battery from under the boot floor to the engine compartment. That under floor space in the P2 cars was a great bonus to the already good boot space, the 2011> S60 by comparison has a glovebox behind the rear seats where the boot should be.

Ford have always had an eye on costs not just since the 60's. When a car is done at the end of life no point in having a scrap yard full of shining pieces that look in showroom condition. Where's the sense in that ?

Two gas struts on a lightweight aluminium bonnet would appear overkill to some.

The gas strut and scissor hinge arrangement on the P2 S60 bootlid was great though, robbed no space from the boot and produced extra lift into the opening. The 2011> S60 boot hinges are just nasty and take a load of space out of the boot by comparison. Has the new S60 reverted back to the scissor arrangement ?

[Ian W XC60]

Originally Posted by Clan

I'm sure they kept a few Ford people though there are small signs here and there :-)

Would that be the joker who designed the EGR system on the pre-adblue D4?

[GMcL]

Originally Posted by Clan

As i always have said , ford bought volvo raped it's technology then dumped it ...

That's the way of the world when you're on your uppers and need financial support. Raped might be a bit strong though. Volvo got their small 30/40 & 50 range out of the deal so not really fair to say they were raped.

I think the same was said of BMW when they bought Land Rover when developing the X5 and can probably be repeated ad nauseum throughout history. Beggars can't be choosers.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Ian W XC60

Would that be the joker who designed the EGR system on the pre-adblue D4?

i doubt it ... They should have kept the D5 cooler arrangement where the exhaust follows a straight path through the cooler rather than goes through a shorter one , makes a 180 degree turn and comes back through the other side , soot particles dont like going through 180 degrees .. renault have the same design and get similar problems .

[Pointer7]

Road2ruin,

Its funny you should say that as it had an MOT a few weeks ago and it say the NSR tyre is slightly mis shapen but I can't work out why it would knock over uneven surfaces? Surely it would do it all the time if it was the tyre?

[GrahamHR]

I worry about my plan to keep my V60 Polestar long term.

Yes, high road tax, unfair really considering the yearly mileage ( around 3,500 PA), so I'm hardly a mass producer of CO2; my daughter in her Mazda 2, 12,000 miles PA generates more. I love driving the car, so high VED on it's own is not an issue for me

Today's CTEK indication of sick battery, which doesn't surprise me due to the awful Volvo battery management software. It's astonishing that the car doesn't keep the battery fully charged and that the Volvo dealer and Volvo UK think that's OK !

Plus constantly running engine radiator fans; diagnosis costs, repair costs? ( it may, according to an internet search, be due to low aircon pressure apparently), Costs if don't get it sorted soon ( worn out radiator fans at many hundreds of pounds). This car has only done 14,000 miles from new !!!!!!!!!

At 14,000 miles. my previous car, a Ford Mondeo ST220 estate had no faults whatsoever ( except the independent Ford dealer stole the engine undertray and cut off other pieces to disguise the act; they had a ST220 as a demonstrator, so they probably fitted it to it !)

[Clan]

Originally Posted by GrahamHR

I worry about my plan to keep my V60 Polestar long term.

Yes, high road tax, unfair really considering the yearly mileage ( around 3,500 PA), so I'm hardly a mass producer of CO2; my daughter in her Mazda 2, 12,000 miles PA generates more. I love driving the car, so high VED on it's own is not an issue for me

Today's CTEK indication of sick battery, which doesn't surprise me due to the awful Volvo battery management software. It's astonishing that the car doesn't keep the battery fully charged and that the Volvo dealer and Volvo UK think that's OK !

Plus constantly running engine radiator fans; diagnosis costs, repair costs? ( it may, according to an internet search, be due to low aircon pressure apparently), Costs if don't get it sorted soon ( worn out radiator fans at many hundreds of pounds). This car has only done 14,000 miles from new !!!!!!!!!

At 14,000 miles. my previous car, a Ford Mondeo ST220 estate had no faults whatsoever ( except the independent Ford dealer stole the engine undertray and cut off other pieces to disguise the act; they had a ST220 as a demonstrator, so they probably fitted it to it !)

Has the battery been tested with the on board battery test available at the dealer ? The battery monitor holds a wealth of data and history of the car's battery management , AGM batteries are sensitive to being left flat , even for a day can greatly reduce their performance . If the car was hanging around with a flat battery before you had it that might account for it being weak prematurely .

The car's charging system works full time to charge to 80 % , The charging above 80% is carried out when braking and coasting down hill so it is possible for the battery to achieve 100% charge . this saves quite a bit of energy .

The radiator fan will run with the AC On so will be running full time at low speeds if you always have the AC on . However the fan has a sophisticated continuously variable speed motor which idles around silently most of the time , it is very rare it will ever run at full speed , it is very loud when doing this . Radiator fan motors do not wear out ...

if your fan is running full speed all the time obviously you have a problem ... that is the default if there is a problem with fan speed control or a faulty temperature sensor ..

[GrahamHR]

Originally Posted by Clan

Has the battery been tested with the on board battery test available at the dealer ? The battery monitor holds a wealth of data and history of the car's battery management , AGM batteries are sensitive to being left flat , even for a day can greatly reduce their performance . If the car was hanging around with a flat battery before you had it that might account for it being weak prematurely .

The car's charging system works full time to charge to 80 % , The charging above 80% is carried out when braking and coasting down hill so it is possible for the battery to achieve 100% charge . this saves quite a bit of energy .

The radiator fan will run with the AC On so will be running full time at low speeds if you always have the AC on . However the fan has a sophisticated continuously variable speed motor which idles around silently most of the time , it is very rare it will ever run at full speed , it is very loud when doing this . Radiator fan motors do not wear out ...

if your fan is running full speed all the time obviously you have a problem ... that is the default if there is a problem with fan speed control or a faulty temperature sensor ..

Yes, the car stood around a while before it was registered/ sold to me. It was driven 200 miles to my address; the following day I had the engine switched off and was playing with the radio settings, The "low battery" warning appeared after about 2 minutes then the radio was shut down very soon after. Very odd I thought, I checked the voltage at the battery; 11.8V. After a 200 largely motorway miles journey, it didn't seem right.

The local dealer had it in for 2 days. Did all the checks apparently including the battery monitor, nothing wrong found. Put it on a charger overnight and delivered it back. The next day the low battery warning was back, again 11.8V at the battery. A new (Volvo) battery was fitted. I don't know if it was an AGM one or not. I invested in the CTEK charger.

The low battery warning came and went un a regular basis for the next 3 years. Even after using the smart charger, once disconnected and the car unused for about a week the battery voltage dropped to around 12.1V. I never let it drop further. It was checked over again at the dealer before the warranty expired; nothing wrong found. I'm resigned to having to use the charger every week or so.

How does the car charge the battery when braking or going down hill ?

The radiator fan is not very loud, so maybe I never noticed it running before. If I start the engine with AC off, it is not running. If I then switch the AC on, when the clutch on the compressor is activated, the fans start. They do not stop though if I then switch the AC off.

I'll wait until the next service before I take it in to the dealer.

[Clan]

Originally Posted by GrahamHR

Yes, the car stood around a while before it was registered/ sold to me. It was driven 200 miles to my address; the following day I had the engine switched off and was playing with the radio settings, The "low battery" warning appeared after about 2 minutes then the radio was shut down very soon after. Very odd I thought, I checked the voltage at the battery; 11.8V. After a 200 largely motorway miles journey, it didn't seem right.

The local dealer had it in for 2 days. Did all the checks apparently including the battery monitor, nothing wrong found. Put it on a charger overnight and delivered it back. The next day the low battery warning was back, again 11.8V at the battery. A new (Volvo) battery was fitted. I don't know if it was an AGM one or not. I invested in the CTEK charger.

The low battery warning came and went un a regular basis for the next 3 years. Even after using the smart charger, once disconnected and the car unused for about a week the battery voltage dropped to around 12.1V. I never let it drop further. It was checked over again at the dealer before the warranty expired; nothing wrong found. I'm resigned to having to use the charger every week or so.

How does the car charge the battery when braking or going down hill ?

The radiator fan is not very loud, so maybe I never noticed it running before. If I start the engine with AC off, it is not running. If I then switch the AC on, when the clutch on the compressor is activated, the fans start. They do not stop though if I then switch the AC off.

I'll wait until the next service before I take it in to the dealer.

There is certainly something wrong there either with the alternator or battery ( again ) I can understand the first battery failing if the car was not used for a while from manufacture to registration ... Its certainly not a common issue .. to get these batteries back to good form they require a very long charge at least 24 hours with at least a 10A charger . the first 80% may come up quickly but the last 20% takes much longer . I'm not sure what your charger does though .. It might be too good if it turns right down after only a few hours ...It won't do the job like that ..

Once at 80% the alternator is only engaged whilst the brake pedal is pressed , or when you are moving with your foot off the throttle ...

The fan action is ok i would say as it also responds to high underbonnet temperature due to a regeneration perhaps and you stop before it is carried out , the manifold , and exhaust system will be 600 C ... as long as it doesn't stay on for long after you lock the car it will be ok , That could be what is draining the battery if continues to run for hours at low speed ... Checking out the battery and charging system and checking for current drain when parked up should have already been carried out of course ... its easy for them to stick a volt meter on and say it is all ok , but it would be good if they gave you the results , the voltages etc . The battery monitor does record the current drain when parked up amongst a lot of other things ,a print out of that data might help you .